Chapter 45: Experience Trumps Youth After All

“Are you seeing someone off at the train station, young comrade?”

The question pulled Shen Yi’an from her daze against the taxi window. She turned in surprise.

Was it written on her forehead?

How could he possibly guess?

Though reluctant to speak, she answered absently, “How did you figure it out, driver?”

“Don’t tell me you read it on my face—I won’t believe that!”

The taxi driver chuckled heartily at her response.

“Nothing so mystical! I’m no fortune teller.”

“It’s just that you’re being rather obvious, young comrade.”

“Really?” Shen Yi’an grew more curious.

Had she been acting differently from anyone else?

Apart from looking somewhat dejected, her eyes lacking their usual spark, and her overall energy being low…

Noticing her curiosity, the driver smiled and explained his reasoning.

“A few years back, I’d never have dared make such an assumption.”

“But things have changed recently.”

He seemed to grow wistful, as if recalling the differences.

“In the past few years, I’ve transported dozens of young people in your state. I’d say ninety percent were seeing off their partners.”

“The remaining ten percent were mostly business associates or the like.”

“You kept glancing back at the train station after getting in, or staring blankly at the window.”

“If I couldn’t guess from that, I might as well have driven these years for nothing.”

Realizing her demeanor had given her away, Shen Yi’an nodded in understanding.

True enough!

When you spotted rare despondency in young people, besides matters of the heart, what other reason could there be?

A bitter smile touched her lips before she sank back into silence.

Seeing this, the driver understood she didn’t wish to talk further. He abandoned any attempt to continue the conversation, though he couldn’t help feeling somewhat amused inwardly.

Young people these days, having lived comfortable lives for so long, actually worried about such intangible matters.

Nothing like his youth.

Back then, no one had the luxury to fret over romance—not when their bellies were empty. Who had the energy for such thoughts?

Only in recent years, as life improved, did they gradually taste what it meant to be well-fed.

Ah, each generation truly has its own troubles!

Experience trumps youth after all—the driver’s guess had been spot on.

Silent now, Shen Yi’an was exactly as he imagined: her mind ebbing and flowing with the image of a certain person.

Before facing separation, she had believed she could handle everything nonchalantly.

Their connection hadn’t run too deep anyway—claiming reluctance would have been insincere.

But when parting stood before her, even became reality, she realized how terribly wrong her initial assumption had been.

Because after that figure faded into the distance, after the train’s whistle grew faint and eventually inaudible, an indescribable feeling welled up inside her.

How to put it? It was complicated.

There was loss, anxiety, struggle, and frustration.

All these emotions swirled in her heart.

Compelling her to replay the memories over and over.

Recalling the relaxation when that person was by her side, recalling the possessive gaze filled with both aggression and tenderness when that person looked at her, recalling the sense of assurance when that person walked so close to her…

It was fine if she didn’t think about it, but once those details came to mind, a dense, aching sourness faintly spread from her heart.

She hadn’t felt this way before, so why did it emerge after such a short time apart?

This was only the beginning of their separation—what would happen to her as time went on?

Just establishing a relationship had already brought such changes. If their relationship progressed further, would it bring about other unexpected new changes…

Amid the taxi driver’s quiet sighs and Shen Yi’an’s distracted thoughts, the taxi soon arrived at the destination—the Seed Market.

After getting out of the car, as she looked at the crimson sunset on the horizon and the gradually thinning crowd, the chaotic thoughts in Shen Yi’an’s mind instantly vanished.

The only thought left was which seeds she should buy once she entered the Seed Market.

Common vegetable seeds like tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro, and chili peppers were a must.

She also needed to buy seeds for some specialty varieties, such as cherry radishes, kale, and Malabar spinach.

She wouldn’t be able to eat much of the harvest herself, but storing it in the Space’s storage area would allow her to exchange it for small amounts of money later.

Little by little, she could accumulate the startup capital to venture into the business world.

Then there were fruit seeds—no, wait, for fruits, she should buy saplings instead.

Although the planting area in the Space had a tenfold time acceleration, waiting for seeds to sprout, bloom, and bear fruit was still too time-consuming.

In that time, fruit saplings would have grown many times over.

Of course, if the Seed Market only had seeds and no saplings for certain varieties, she’d have to buy the seeds and cultivate them slowly herself, though the Space would still be her greatest aid.

Besides vegetables and fruits, what else should she buy? After thinking for a while, medicinal herbs flashed through Shen Yi’an’s mind.

In her previous life, her death wasn’t just due to incurable illness—the key was that she no longer wanted to live.

Now, reborn with the Space as her cheat, she couldn’t afford to neglect medicinal herbs.

Even if she didn’t need them herself, they could be exchanged for startup capital. After all, relying solely on selling grains, vegetables, and fruits to accumulate funds was too slow.

With a plan in mind, Shen Yi’an entered the Seed Market and began her shopping spree.

She bought rice seeds, wheat seeds like common wheat, barley, oats, and rye, as well as corn, sorghum, and millet.

In addition, she bought seeds for tubers like sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and potatoes.

After finishing with grain seeds, she moved on to the vegetable seed section.

She bought various seeds or seedlings within her budget, including legumes like sword beans, green beans, and soybeans; cucurbits like cucumbers and watermelons; nightshades like eggplants and chili peppers; and others like Chinese cabbage, cabbage, crown daisy, yam, and garlic…

When she moved to the fruit sapling stalls, her shopping trip to the Seed Market was forced to stop.

It wasn’t that Shen Yi’an didn’t want to buy more, but after asking the prices, she realized her pocket money was nearly gone.

Although she could still afford a few fruit seeds, like watermelon or cantaloupe seeds, she decided against it after some thought.

The grain and vegetable seeds I had purchased earlier were temporarily stored in a warehouse rented from the Seed Market, and leasing the warehouse was an additional expense.

Moreover, taking a taxi home would also cost money.

Although I hadn’t finished buying everything I wanted, I reluctantly left with the seeds I had managed to purchase.

On the way, the truck driver couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Young comrade, why are you buying so many grain crops?”

“The autumn harvest here is almost over. Even if you wanted to plant them now, it’s already too late.”

“At most, you could only grow some Chinese cabbage or white radishes.”

Shen Yi’an had anticipated being questioned and replied without changing his expression, “These are meant to be sent back to my hometown.”

“They said they want to experiment with growing greenhouse vegetables and asked us to help gather whatever seeds we could find in the city.”

“I only went out because the sun was about to set—it’s too hot to go out during the day.”

Hearing this explanation, the truck driver finally dropped his curiosity.

“The idea of growing greenhouse vegetables is a good one. Tell your friends and family back home to keep at it.”

“If they succeed, our city won’t lack fresh vegetables in the future.”

Though his words sounded encouraging, deep down, he didn’t hold much hope for such an endeavor.

Greenhouse vegetables are notoriously difficult to manage.

Setting aside soil selection and irrigation water sources, controlling light, temperature differences, and heat alone are major challenges.

The cost of trial and error is too high.

Unless wealthy individuals are willing to invest or take shares, relying solely on passion won’t sustain the effort for long.

But he was just a truck driver and knew which topics were appropriate to discuss and which were not.

Shen Yi’an had no way of knowing the driver’s thoughts. Hearing his tactful encouragement, he simply smiled without saying anything else.

After a long, bumpy ride, the truck stopped at a crossroads entering the city.

“Are you sure you want to unload everything here?”

“If anything goes missing, I won’t be responsible for it!”

Hearing that the goods were to be unloaded right at the intersection, the truck driver was somewhat surprised.